Of course, that’s an amazing opportunity for online retailers who want to send their products beyond the borders of their country.

At this point, you realize that the power of eCommerce is unlimited and that even though some channels may be saturated or too hard to dominate, there will always be opportunities that will give online retailers the chance to grow their businesses.

So, bear with me, because I am going to share with you some of the most important eCommerce trends to follow in 2018 (and beyond).

1. Artificial Intelligence

As you probably know, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over the digital field.

More and more companies across industries now use AI technology to:

Offer a better customer service to their customers

Create a personalized experience for their audience

Provide customized solutions to complex problems

Automate certain procedures that require both time and money

With companies like Microsoft and Google investing heavily into AI initiatives, it is only natural that AI belongs to the future of everything that has to do with digital.

As we can see in this amazing graph from cbinsights.com, some of the most recognized brands are now competing each other in the AI race.

Of course, Google comes first with than 14 acquisitions under its belt. Second, comes Apple, with 13 acquisitions.

As expected, AI acquisitions are increasing year after year. This graph from cnbinsights.com shows a 44% increase in 2017 and what will be the increase in 2018?

Well, we just have to wait and see!

A logical question that arises at this point is:

Why is this important for me as an online retailer and what can I do to be up-to-date?

According to a recent study by Business Insider, almost 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by 2020.

The way that businesses interact with their customers and audience will change and that will affect eCommerce businesses to their very core.

This is why eCommerce giants such as Amazon and eBay have already started to use AI to create a better and much more meaningful experience for their customers.

Applications like Amazon Go and eBay ShopBot are AI-powered applications, built to ease their customers’ journey and help them reach well-informed decisions quickly.

Thus, as we can understand, eCommerce is going to be affected by the rise of AI and its applications.

If we want to be more accurate as to how will AI affect eCommerce, we could easily identify the following areas:

If you are still wondering how can AI help your eCommerce business be more competitive, here are a few more applications:

There is huge opportunity emerging from AI and its applications and, as always, early adopters will be the ones that will benefit the most out of this relatively new technology.

So, don’t get left behind.

Start exploring new technologies and adopt the ones that make sense for your business.

Let’s move on to the next trend!

2. Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

A home design and interior decorator company named Houzz, introduced a new app that allows users to view and place items from a catalog of 500,000 images in their virtual rooms.

Now, someone would say, that this is a nice game for its users, but does it actually work as a sales tool?

Well, if we consider the fact that Houzz found that there is an 11x higher likelihood that users will purchase a product after viewing it in its app –

We understand that results speak for themselves.

In addition, the company discovered that users stay in the app 2.7x longer than before, so there is an increase in engagement as well.

But, Houzz is not the only company that uses such technologies.

IKEA with its IKEA Place app allows users to “Try before they buy” as it states in its official website.

IKEA Place is an augmented reality app that allows users to visually try their new furniture and see how they will like at their home.

Needless to say that results from the app usage are amazing and now, more and more companies are trying to replicate IKEA’s initiative.

To take this a step further, in this year’s F8 2018 (the annual developer conference held by Facebook), the infamous social network that owns Messenger, announced the ability for brands to integrate AR camera effects into their Messenger experience.

David Marcus (Vice President of messaging products at Facebook) opened the door to AR for eCommerce (and other kinds of online businesses) businesses that use or want to use Messenger as a sales channel.

Thus, it is only natural that more and more eCommerce businesses will start to adopt such technologies as the time passes.

But, companies are not the only ones that believe in the actual benefits of AR in their overall experience.

What does that mean?

According to an ISACA survey, 62% of US consumers believe that AR will improve their customer experience.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality definitely belong to the future of eCommerce.

It is not a matter of “if” they are going to be used, it’s just a matter of “how” they are going to be used.

So, take the next step and find out how you will use AR for your own eCommerce business.

3. Mobile Commerce

Did you know that mobile usage differs through the day?

As this amazing graph from Smart Insights shows us, mobile use is more common during the early morning hours, while desktop use is more common during daytime (10:00 am to 05:00 pm).

A hitwise report on mobile search trends indicates that 58% of all searches in Google are now coming from mobile devices.

In addition, this graph by Backlinko shows us that there are far more mobile queries than desktop ones.

In fact, Google says that there are 27.8 Billion more search queries on mobile than on desktop.

Amazing, right?

Today, almost 95% of all mobile searches are done on Google and for Google, mobile comes first.

According to an article by Forbes, the subscription eCommerce economy has grown by more than 100% over the past five years.

The same article mentions that some of the largest online retailers generate more than $2.6 Billion in sales in 2016.

A research by McKinsey & Company indicates that 15% of people who shop online have signed up for one or more subscriptions, in order to receive products on a recurring basis.

The same research found that women account for 60% of all subscriptions, while men are more likely to have 3 or 4 active subscriptions.

As you can understand, subscription boxes are great for your eCommerce business to have a recurring revenue and – at the same time – have more loyal customers.

This is happening because people want to be treated individually and – above all – want to feel special.

The truth is that subscription boxes is a nice way to make your customers feel special by sending them special products.

Subscription boxes may not fit your eCommerce business but if it does, make sure to give it a try!

7. Influencer Marketing

There are many channels and traffic sources that work well and in most cases generate revenue for the companies using them.

There is one though that works particularly well and for a good reason.

Influencer marketing.

Many online retailers would say that this sales channel is already saturated but this is far from true.

You see, there is something that makes influencer marketing much more powerful than other traditional acquisition channels:

Liking

Most influencers or micro-influencers have a loyal audience; an audience that is willing to consume products just because their favorite influencer uses them or likes them.

One of the 6 principles of persuasion, as mentioned in Dr. Robert Cialdini’s legendary book Influence – The Science of Persuasion, is “Liking”.

Put simply, people tend to say yes to those they like.

This is the main reason why influencer marketing is so powerful and this is why it will continue to be one of the most powerful acquisition channels.

Some of the most commonly used influencer marketing strategies according to BigCommerce are:

Content featuring your products

Product reviews

Promote giveaway contests

Offer discount coupons

Offer custom URLs for free access

Just before we move on to the next trend, we’ve got to mention one common mistake among eCommerce businesses and this is the fact that most businesses believe that influencer marketing is too expensive to try.

But, as in every other aspect of online entrepreneurship, you test and based on the results you double down your efforts in what is working and stop the ones that proved inefficient.

Thus, if you want to find out whether or not influencer marketing is working or not, all you have to do is try it for your own business.

8. Chatbots

It’s not easy for us to be objective when it comes to Chatbots.

Why?

Well, because this is (almost) what we do!

We help online retailers automate conversations and start earning from their Messenger audience.

But, let’s look at some facts.

According to a recent report by Grand View Research, the global Chatbot market is expected to reach $1.23 Billion by 2025.

That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 24.3%.

Many big and many small-to-medium eCommerce businesses now use Chatbots to communicate more quickly and effectively with their customers and audience.

With the rise of messaging apps, Chatbots are fast becoming the No.1 way for businesses across industries to communicate with their customers and offer solutions to their problems in 0 time.

Domino’s is using its Messenger Bot Dom, to help users place their orders in no time and hassle-free.

Many eCommerce businesses are now using Chatbots to:

Automate conversations with their audience

Reach a wider audience across different touch-points

Recover their abandoned shopping carts

Inform their audience about special offers and promotions

Send segmented campaigns based on their audience’s preferences

Give answers to FAQs

One of the most popular messaging apps, Messenger, now has more than 1.3 Billion monthly active users.

Why is this important for me and for my business?

I am glad you asked.

Even though there are 1.3 Billion users on Messenger, there are only 300,000 Messenger Bots that handle the communication with all these users.

In addition, there are 20 Million businesses that exchange 8 Billion messages with their audience on a monthly basis on Messenger.

This is a great potential for eCommerce businesses that want to reach their audience in a new and unexploited sales channel such as Messenger.